MEADE 


THE STORY 


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Copy 2 


OP TIIE 

BOOK OF APPIN: 


' A 

lam) ®ale of tl)c ittibblc '3ge0. 


WITH 


AN INTERPRETATION, 

BY THE AUTHOR OF 

“alchemy and the alchemists;” “ Swedenborg a her- 
metic PHILOSOPHER ; ” AND “ CHRIST THE SPIRIT.” 


NEW YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY JAMES MILLER, 

(SUCCESSOR TO C. S. FRANCIS <k CO.) 

5 2 2 BROADWAY. 

1863 . 

# — : 


JOHN F. TROW. 


PRINTER, &TEREOTYPER, AND KLKCTRoTY I KK, 

50 Greene Street, New Yoik. 

Tv^civ, lH.Ha)L 


A few words upon recent publications of 
Fairy , and other Mystical Tales and Tra- 
ditions : with Explanatory Notes upon a 
Story in CampbelVs Collection of West High- 
land Stories . 











t 



















PREFATORY REMARKS. 


#- 


Within a few years past many volumes 
have been published in England and on the 
European continent, under the titles of Fairy 
Tales, Nursery Tales, Popular Tales, &c., 
embracing stories of all kinds, many of them 
preserved by tradition, handed down in differ- 
ent countries from unknown sources. We 
have Keightley's Fairy Mythology ; Thorpe's 
Yule-Stories, and his Northern Mythology ; 
Campbell's Popular Tales of the West High- 
lands, and Dasent's Popular Tales of the 
Norsemen, &c. : then we have Fairy Tales 
from all Nations by Montalba ; Iialliwell's 
Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales ; Taylor’s 



Prefatory Pemarhs. 


6 

edition of the Fairy Eing (translated from the 
German)^ and a valuable volume of translations 
from Grimm’s Popular German Tales, &c. 

In several of these volumes the editors 
warmly congratulate themselves that they do 
not feel called upon, in the present state of 
public feeling and opinion with respect to 
such Tales, to apologize for their publication, 
alleging that, nowadays, grown children are 
taking a profound interest in them. They 
even affirm that wise men are discovering 
hidden treasures, concealed wisdom, in many 
of these marvellous stories about giants ; and 
about kings and queens, with (usually) three 
sons or three daughters, the interest of the 
stories commonly turning, like that of the 
story of Cupid and Psyche, upon the youngest 
child. 


Prefatory Remarks. 7 

A few years ago the disposition to seek for 
hidden meanings in Popular Nursery Tales 
was, no doubt, carried to excess ; and, as 
might have been expected, the disposition fell 
under the lash of a class of smart writers, 
apt in the use of that potent weapon ridicule, 
but not very sharp after all in “ seeing into 
things out of sight ; ” and for a time it was 
doubtful whether any new editor would have 
the courage to appear in public. Experience 
has shown, however, that the interest of the 
public in popular Tales and Traditions has 
gone on increasing, if we may judge by the 
number of volumes of that character recently 
published, until no intelligent student can 
now excuse himself for not examining this 
species of literature and coming to some con- 
clusion as to its import. 


<s> <t 

8 Prefatory Pe marks. 

It is worth remarking that one of the great- 
est of recent German writers has introduced 
into his works two Fairy Stories in particular, 
to say nothing of the symbolic character of 
his writings in general, full of valuable mean- 
ing to those who understand them. We re- 
fer to the New Melusina in Meister’s Travels, 
and the so-called tale in the story of the Ger- 
man Emigrants. No one who can dive into 
the sense of these two tales will hastily con- 
clude that all fairy stories are mere senseless 
fictions, addressed to the fancy and capacity 
of childhood. But while this must he ad- 
mitted, it is evident, on the other hand, that 
the supposition of a profound sense in all 
popular tales indiscriminately, would be the 
extreme of folly in the other direction : 
it would be as absurd as to attribute in 


4 > # 

Prefatory PemarJcs. 9 

good earnest all modern jokes to one Joe 
Miller. 

If some of the stories in question do really 
enclose an interesting, not to say a profound 
rational sense, and in other respects furnish 
valuable materials for study, which can hard- 
ly he doubted, it becomes an important ques- 
tion, as to how the reader is to discriminate 
between such tales and traditions as have 
value, and the no doubt much larger class of 
fictions void of sense and utterly worthless. 
How, it may he asked, is the reader to sepa- 
rate the wheat from the chaff, and feel any 
tolerable security that he is not practising a 
delusion upon himself in the study of these 
products of the fancy or the imagination ? 

Doubtless this is an important question ; 
but it is not the purpose of the writer to dis- 


-# 


10 


Prefatory Remarks . 


cuss it at this time. He has already had 
something to say on this subject elsewhere, 
and will here only remark, that the inter- 
preter of mystical writings, especially those 
that have reached us from antiquity, cannot 
be too careful in securing his fast hold upon 
what is called truth and nature, or, more ap- 
propriately, the truth of nature ; for this alone 
is the true key to whatever has been written 
in the spirit of that truth. With this pre- 
caution, however, no one need be particularly 
exposed in searching out a hidden sense in 
Fairy or other mythological tales, though it 
may not be worth while, after obtaining the 
key (often drawn from the study itself), to 
bestow much time upon this species of study. 
Books in general are designed to serve a par- 
ticular purpose ; and when that purpose is 


Prefatory Remarks, 11 

accomplished they may he consigned to the 
past ; as respects the student, or, to the future, 
to repeat their service to a rising or coming 
generation. 

It is certain, meantime, and this should he 
well considered, that the best of ancient learn- 
ing was couched in proverbs and parables, as 
Lord Bacon himself has told us ; and Solomon 
has left, as a perpetual record, the declara- 
tion, that — A wise man will hear, and will 
increase learning ; and a man of understand- 
ing shall attain unto wise counsels, [so as] 
to understand a proverb and the interpreta- 
tion ; the words of the wise and their dark 
sayings. If there are those who imagine 
that the wise king would have excluded 
Fairy Tales from the contemplation of wise 
men, then let them not claim a divine 


12 P r ef at or y Remarks. 

sense for the Song of Songs, which is Solo- 
mon's. 

•There are those who believe that the ima- 
gination is a great creative power in the soul ; 
which, in itself, “ is vague and unstable ; ” 
and that it is the duty of the artist u to reg- 
ulate and to fix it, and at last to exalt it 
into visible presence." When thus disci- 
plined, it is supposed that the imagination 
may “ body forth the forms of things un- 
known, and give to airy nothing a local hab- 
itation and a name ” far more enduring than 
the visible forms of external nature. But we 
will not discuss this point. 

It may just be remarked here, that while 
some of the Fairy and other tales, recently 
brought to light, have a heathen origin, prob- 
ably in part. Druidical, and some have what 


Prefatory P e marTcs . 13 

is called a profane or unreligious source ; there 
are others again, whicn are like those of the 
Gesta Bomanorum , entirely Christian in their 
character, for which we are undoubtedly in- 
debted to the monks of the middle ages, who 
were at one time in possession of most of the 
libraries and nearly all of the learning of the 
Christian world. 

The writer of these remarks, in the hope of 
discovering some grains of gold amid “ the 
dust of the middle ages,” has recently been 
looking into Campbell's collection of West 
Highland Stories, and, mixed up with a good 
deal that most readers would, no doubt, con- 
sider little better than rubbish (though it 
might not be well to be over bold in passing 
judgment), he has found some tales, and not 
a few either, which have given out what seems 

# — <t> 



14 Pr efa tory Remarks . 


to him a most rich and valuable meaning, in 
the highest degree instructive. 

One of these peculiarly constructed tales 
may be found at page 87 of the second vol- 
ume of the collection just named ; but as the 
hook may not he conveniently at hand for the 
general reader, we will copy the Tale entire, 
omitting no syllable of it, and will then, by 
way of notes, append what we understand to 
be its import. 

It is requested, however, that before exam- 
ining the notes, the reader will slowly pass 
the story before his eyes, silently pondering 
the question — What was the purpose of this 
story ? and let him lay his mind to it in that 
spirit of earnestness which, in the church, 
takes the form of prayer. If he does not 
readily discover the meaning, then let him 


Prefatory Remarks. 15 


f- 


read the explanatory notes, and decide 
whether the imputed sense is or is not in 
the story. 

The story purports to account for the man- 
ner in which a certain mysterious Red Book 
came to he at a place called Appin, in Argyle- 
shire ; and it is recorded, according to tradi- 
tion, as recited by one John, whoever he was, 
who began in the approved style of all fire- 
side story tellers. 

An elaborate explanation is given here of 
one story ; but a volume might easily be made, 
beginning with pretty full explanations and 
closing with a few hints only, leaving room 
for the exercise of the reader’s ingenuity, or 
rather his candor, for mere ingenuity alone will 
hardly carry any one into the heart of that 
peculiar style of writing. Four other stories 


. — <$> 

16 Prefatory PemarJcs. 

are added, viz. : “ The Six Swans,” “ The 

White Dove,” “ Dummling and the Toad ” 
(from the “Fairy Ring”), and “The Fox's 
Brush,” with a very few words which will 
serve to give the clue by which the reader 
may be guided into the interior meaning of 
these fanciful tales. It is not hidden, nor is 
it far off. 

The story of the “ Six Swans ” illustrates 
the case of a man who has commenced “a 
hunt” after the “stag” — Truth — in the 
“great forest” of the world, and has been 
carried by his peculiar genius away from his 
companions. At length — perhaps in the 
“ evening ” of life — he comes to a stand, hav- 
ing discovered that he has lost his way. He 
has mistaken either the true object of pursuit 
or the “ way ” to it. The world now confronts 

# — — — <t> 


Prefatory PemarTcs. 17 

him in the character of a witch, for the world 
is a witch to many who have no belief in 
witchcraft. The pursuit of Truth — misdi- 
rected or misconducted, we may suppose — 
having failed, the man is in a fit condition 
to accept the temptations of the world, which 
appear in the form of a fascinating daughter 
— a daughter of like nature, probably, with 
her mother. I have thus put the key into 
the lock : let the curious reader turn it for 
himself ; it will move more easily, and he will 
see how the ever-recurring Truth may be trans- 
mitted in a fairy tale from age to age, to be 
recognized by those whose eyes the Truth has 
opened. 

In the story of the White Dove, again, the 
Young Girl represents the principle of Truth, 
or a genuine faith in man or woman ; — the 


2 


18 Prefatory Pemarhs. 


“ master and mistress ” with whom she is 
driving, are the body and sonl. In mid life 
the party are assailed by a hand of robbers, 
who rush out upon them from the thicket of 
the world’s temptations, and destroy all that 
was destructible of it. But the principle of 
Truth passes safely “ through the midst,” as 
it did in John, when Jesus was sought to be 
taken by violence, or in another instance 
when he retires to Bethabara beyond Jordan 
— that is, when he conceals himself behind 
the Letter of the Word. 

The world figures in these stories in infinite 
ways — sometimes as a whole and often in 
some of its particular aspects. It is a witch, 
a giant, a monster. In a still larger sense 
Nature appears in endless forms. She is a 
“ hedgehog” over whose “fretful quills” we 

♦ * — — 4 


# * f 

P r ef at or y PemarJcs. 19 

may pass our hands with impunity so long as 
we pass them in the right direction ; hut if 
we pass them in the opposite direction, we 
are wounded and lacerated : if we persist 
we are destroyed. At one time the true 
principle is described as a “ simpleton/' as in 
Dummling and the Toad, because Nature 
goes steadily but with the utmost simplicity 
to her work, and never deviates from it. She 
gives us a thread to walk by, but if we lose 
the thread we fall into manifold difficulties. 
One may enlarge at pleasure on the principle 
illustrated in this simple way. The thread 
is the clue of Ariadne ; it is the dmmon of 
Socrates. If we wander into the wrong path, 
we must find the thread again ; there is no 
other way, for Nature always does one thing, 
and by one method, notwithstanding her end- 


20 Prefatory It e marTcs . 

less diversities. She insists on obedience ; 
and those who do not go willingly with her 
she sometimes saves in the character of a 
Fox, allowing the lost one a seat upon her 
tail, as in the ingenious story of the Fox’s 
Brush. A deep and significant story this. 
The eyes at first are “ holden ” and do not 
discover the principle of Life in the Fox ; 
nor are they opened until the two extremes 
— the head and tail— the two thieves — are 
cut off. 

Nature, in her truth and simplicity, is the 
true “ mother,” ever kind and gentle, wound- 
ing only to save. When insulted by wilful 
neglect she becomes a “ step-mother,” and 
when violated she becomes the most inexor- 
able of masters, wearing the terrible face of a 
tyrant. 


# 

P r ef atory Remarks. 21 

No mere fanciful theory can touch the core 
of this matter, and it is useless to quarrel 
with the “ dish ” in which a certain u golden 
fruit ” is presented to us. We had better 
make friends with the Fairies and find out 
what they mean ; for sometimes they repre- 
sent angels ; and these again represent very 
familiar friends if we put ourselves in a right 
relation toward them. In many of these 
stories we read of a marvellous well, or a 
spring of clear water, widening into what 
seems a lake, in the bottom of which may 
he descried a magnificent city. So, in these 
little pools of fairy legend, extraordinary won- 
ders may be discovered by those who have 
eyes to see. 

Washington City, January 2 , 1863 . 









THE STORY 


RED BOOK OF APPIN. 





#- 


THE STORY 

OF THE 

RED BOOK OF APPIK 


“ Once upon a time there lived a 
man [note 1] at Appin, Argyleshire, 
and he took to his house [2] an orphan 
- boy [3]. When the boy was grown up 
he was sent to Herd [4] ; and upon a 
day of days, and him herding, there came 
a fine gentleman [5] where he was, who 
asked him to become his servant, and 
(promised) that he would give him 
plenty to eat and drink, clothes, and 

i , 


26 The Story of the 

great wages [6]. The boy told him that 
he would like very much to get a good 
suit of clothes, but that he would not 
engage till he would see his Master [7] ; 
but the fine gentleman would have him 
engaged without delay: this the boy 
would not do upon any terms, till he 
would see his Master. ‘Well,’ said the 
gentleman, 4 in the mean time, write your 
name in this Book/ Saying this, he put 
his hand into his oxter pocket, and pull- 
ing out a large Bed Book, he told the 
boy to write his name in the Book. 
This the boy would not do; neither 
would he tell his name, till he would ac- 
quaint his Master first. 4 Now,’ said the 
gentleman, 4 since you will neither en- 


Red Roolc of Appin. 27 

gage nor tell me your name [8] till you 
see your present Master, be sure to meet 
me about sunset to-morrow, at a certain 
place.’ The boy promised that he would 
be sure to meet him at the place about 
sunsetting. When the boy came home 
he told his Master what the gentleman 
said to him. 4 Poor boy,’ says he, 1 a fine 
master he >vould make ; lucky for you 
that you neither engaged nor wrote your 
name in his Book [9]: but since you 
promised to meet him, you must go ; but 
as you value your life, do as I tell you.’ 
His Master gave him a sword [10], and 
at the same time he told him to be sure 
and be at the place mentioned a while 
before sunset [11], and to draw a circle 


28 


The Story of the 


round himself with the point of his 
sword in the name of the Trinity [12]. 
4 When you do this, draw a cross in the 
centre of the circle [13] ; uj3on which 
you will stand yourself ; and do not move 
out of that position till the rising of the 
sun next morning [14]. He also told 
him that the gentleman would wish him 
to come out of the circle to put his name 
in the Book ; but that upon no account 
was he to leave the circle. 4 But ask the 
Book till you would write your name 
yourself [15], and when once you get 
hold of the Book keep it [16] ; he can- 
not touch a hair of your head, if you 
keep inside of the circle’ [17]. 

u So the boy w r as at the place [18] 


#- 


Bed Booh of Appin . 29 

long before the gentleman made his ap- 
pearance ; but sure enough he came after 
sunset : he tried all his arts to get the 
boy outside of the circle, to sign his 
name in the Red Book; but the boy 
would not move one foot out of the place 
where he stood [19] ; but at the long 
last he handed the Book to the boy, so 
as to write his name therein. The Book 
was no sooner inside the circle, than it 
fell out of the gentleman’s hand inside 
the circle [20] : the boy cautiously 
stretches out his hand for the Book, and 
as soon as he got hold of it he put it 
into his oxter. When the fine gentle- 
man saw that he did not mean to give 
him back the Book, he got furious ; and 


30 Red Book of App i n . 

at last lie transformed liimself into a 
great many likenesses, blowing fire and 
! brimstone out of his mouth and nostrils 
[21] : at times he would appear as a 
horse ; other times as a huge cat, and a 
fearful beast [22] : he was going round 
the circle the length of the night : when 
day was beginning to break he let out 
one fearful screech ; he put himself into 
the likeness of a large raven, and he was 
i sooi\ out of the boy’s sight. The boy still 
remained where he was till he saw the 
sun in the morning [23], which no sooner 
he observed than he took to his soles 
home as fast as he could [24]. He gave 
the Book to his Master [25] ; and this is 
how the far-famed Red Book was got.” 


EXPLANATORY NOTES. 


Note 1 . Once upon a time there lived a man. 
Man is the subject of this story, as he is of most 
stories and tales of all sorts ; and, truly, Man is the 
subject of all the wonders and marvels of the world. 

He is the great miracle of nature, and is said to carry 
within himself the greatest secret in the universe. 
What he signifies in this story must be left to be dis- 
closed by the general sense of the Tale. 

2. The man took to his house. By the expression 
his house , we may understand the man himself. Man 
is often called a house in Scripture ; and the story we 
are considering, as will soon appear, is a symbolical 
illustration of one of the greatest mysteries of Scrip- 
ture; and not one merely, but the entire course of 
Christian doctrine. Man is called a house : Set thy 
house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live, 2d 

4 >- — # 


32 Explanatory Notes . 




Kings 20, 1 ; that is, set thyself in order, and prepare 
for death. Again : The house of the righteous shall 
stand ; hut that of the wicked shall be overthrown, 
Prov. 12, 7, and 14, 11. Again : we read in He- 
brews 6, 3, that Christ is a Son over his own house, 
whose house are we, if, &c. Again : Every man went 
into his own house, John 7, 3 ; that is, after a certain 
discussion with the Pharisees, every man of them re- 
turned to his own opinion. Again : Jesus enters 
Peter’s house ; that is, the Spirit of Truth enters Peter 
himself, — and cures or corrects Ms opinion of the visible 
church, the mother of his faith ; faith being the daugh- 
ter of the church, and Peter’s wife. But in Scripture 
the expression house, as also that of wife, is used in 
various senses. 

3. The man took to his house an Orphan Boy. An 
orphan has neither father nor mother: and thus far 
he becomes a good figure for Melcliisedek, who was 
without father, without mother, without descent, hav- 
ing neither beginning of days nor end of life ; and he 
was made like unto the Son of God. Heb. 7, 3. He 
is called also king of righteousness; and after that, 


♦ <§> 

Explan atory Notes. 33 

King of Peace, — or, as we may read it, the Prince of 
Peace. This is the most mysterious personage in Scrip- 
ture next after Him, to whom he is said to he “ like : ” 
but the likeness itself is a mystery, and is no other than 
the secret of the Lord. 

Let the reader apprehend, if he can, the idea of one 
who has neither father nor mother, beginning of days 
nor end of life ; and then let him compare this idea 
with his idea of the Son of God, who was, according to 
John, with God in the beginning, and was God; his 
own Father and his own Son. By thus contemplating 
the inward idea until it takes the form of faith, he may 
at length perceive the force of the simile of the Orphan 
Boy, — which the man took to his own house, that is, 
to his own soul. 

4. The Boy was sent to Herd. That is, he was sent 
into the wilderness of the world, to encounter that class 
of people called by the Baptist a generation of “ vipers,’’ 
Matt. 3, 7, bipeds with quadrupedal names. 

In a similar sense, we read the instructions to the 
disciples, Behold, I send you forth as sheep amidst 
wolves, Matt. 10, 16. This is a usual comparison in 


3 


34 Explanatory Notes. 


Scripture. Sometimes particular passions, or tenden- 
cies, or principles are figured by particular animals, as 
by the lion, the leopard, the lamb, and the kid, as also 
by the bear, the serpent, &c. 

We read that on the first appearance of Christ from 
the Jordan, he was taken into the wilderness “ to be 
tempted of the devil ; ” and we now come to the image 
of this in the story before us. 

5. There came (to the orphan boy) a fine gentleman . 

This is no other than a certain personage who appears 
in the 6th verse of the first chapter of Job : Now ! 
there was a day when the sons of God came to present ; 
themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among 
them. This is the gentleman who offered the Lord 
“ all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,” 

— if he would fall down and worship him ; — that is, if 
he would become his servant, as expressed in this story. 

# The story represents this personage as a fine gentleman: 
and, in truth, he finely represents the world and the 
temptations thereof. He offers the boy plenty to eat 
and drink, and clothes ; but keeps out of view the doc- 
trine, that the life is more than meat, and the body 


Explanatory Notes. 35 


than raiment, Matt. 6, 25. He makes many promises, 
and among them 

6. Great wages : but he omits to tell the boy that 
the wages of sin is death ; and that sin and the exclu- 
sive service of the world are synonymous expressions. 
He does not remind the boy of the text : Ye cannot 
serve God and mammon. 

The boy, however, is not easily seduced by this 
Mephistopheles : he tells the tempter that he will make 
no engagement till he can first see 

7. His master. Who now is the Master of this mys- 
terious boy ? This we must determine by the character 
of the cautions and commandments he gives the boy, 
and by the conduct of the boy himself, which we shall 
soon see. 

8. The boy refused to give his name to the fine 

gentleman. This signifies that the worldly man, called 
by St. Paul sometimes the carnal and sometimes the 
natural man, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of 
God. . . . Neither can he know them, because 

they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. 2, 14. St. Paul 
intimates the same thing when he speaks of the life of 


<§> 

36 Explanatory Notes. 

the true disciples as being hid in Christ. Such men 
may be said to be invisible to those who are devoted to 
the world, or to a merely worldly life, and the latter 
asks in vain the name, that is, the signification of such 
a life. 

9. The hoy had been desired to write his name in 
a certain book, held out to him by the fine gentleman, 
and was commended by his Master for not doing it. 

To write one’s name is a pledge ; and to write one’s 
name in a book held out by the world and its entice- 
ments, is to surrender the hope of life into the grasp of 
death. Turn ye, turn ye, — for why will ye die, O 
house of Israel ; that is, turn ye from the service of the 
world to the service of God, often figured in Scripture 
by the expressions death and life ; for these expressions, 
thus used in Scripture, do not refer to the body. St. 
Paul tells us that the friendship of the world is enmity 
with God ; and a greater than St. Paul gives a suffi- 
cient warning, to those who will receive it, in the lan- 
guage: Por what is a man profited' if he gain the 
whole world and lose his own soul ? or what shall a 
man give in exchange for his soul? 

# — X 


# 

Explanatory Notes. 37 

As the boy is now about to encounter the fine gen- 
tleman, that is, the world, his Master, besides many 
verbal cautions and instructions, gave him 

10. A sword. The sword is the emblem of courage ; 
and in the conflicts of the spirit with the world this 
virtue is greatly needed. When Moses gave his last 
instructions to the children of Israel, to go over and 
possess the Land of Promise, Deut. 31, where the 
Heathens were to be destroyed, he exhorts them to 
be strong and of good courage; assuring them that 
God (their Master) would not fail nor forsake them : 
and he gave the same encouragement to Joshua “in 
the sight of all Israel,” Be strong and of good 
courage, — the language being repeated to give em- 
phasis to it; by which we may understand its im- 
portance. 

The figurative character of this Mosaic history has 
been sufficiently pointed out by Origen and others ; 
the transition from Egypt to the Holy Land signifying 
the passing over of the Israelites from a material to a 
spiritual life, to which end it became necessary to de- 
stroy the worldly passions, figured by the Heathen. 


38 Explanatory Notes . 


But we will return to the matter in hand, in illustra- 
tion of the figurative use of the sword. 

In Ezek. 30, 24, we read, that God gave his sword 
(in other words he gave his spirit, or his power) to 
those who fought the good fight of faith in his name. 
ATe read much in the Scripture of the sword of the 
Spirit ; the Spirit, indeed, being compared to a two- 
edged sword. 

11. The boy was directed to meet the fine gentle- 
man before sunset. This signifies that he was directed 
to encounter the world before any dimness should pass 
over that Light which “ lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world ; ” that light which whoso foregoes 
becomes an early victim to the fine gentleman in the 
form of riches, of honors, or of pleasures, for he takes 
many forms ; for here is the Iroad path we read of in 
Scripture, and many there be who go in thereat. These 
riches, honors, and pleasures often figure as giants, or 
other monsters, in these mythical stories of the middle 
ages ; and we often see them destroyed by the youngest 
child of wealthy parents — not without reference to the 
power of the Spirit, which, though latest in birth, from 


<#> 


Explanatory Notes . 39 

a material view, is first in power. For who may abide 
His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth ? 

It was He who, in the person of Samson, killed the 
lion. It was He who, in the person of David, slew the 
giant of Gath, and who killed both the lion and the 
bear while yet a youth ; and here the student may con- , 
sider whether the giant of Gath, the lion and the bear, 
though killed of old, are not yet, nevertheless, in the 
world, going at large to and fro in the earth, and walk- 
ing up and down in it ; for the history of the past can 
only furnish “ ensamples ” for our instruction and 
guidance. 

To guard against the fine gentleman, that is, against 
the world, its giant temptations and its magical en- 
chantments, figured in many of these tales of the 
middle ages as a witch (the very serpent in Eden, 
and no less the beast in the Revelation), the boy was 
directed to draw a circle round himself in the name 
of 

12. The Trinity. We see plainly here, that this 
story originated with a Christian, and must have been 
told in the interest of Christianity. We may therefore 

<#> 1 # 




40 Explanatory Notes . 




expect to find in Christianity the key for disclosing its 
meaning. 

The boy was further directed 

13. To draw a cross in the centre of the circle, and 
to stand upon it. The circle expresses the limit or 
boundary between holiness and sin, which have no in- 
ter-communication the one with the other : and the 
boy was commanded to stand upon the cross, and not to 
move from it until 

14. The rising of the sun the next morning. The 
cross is the emblem of Christianity, and stands here for 
the church of Christ. We read particularly of two 
Lights in Scripture : one is compared to that of the 
Lamp ; and this is the Law, the Divine Law of Moses, 
which to the psalmist, was as a lamp to his feet, and 
threw a light upon his path ; — but his pathway led to 
that other Light which is compared to that of the sun ; 
and this is Christ, the spirit of both, the Law and the 
visible church. Christ is “ the end of all,” in whom, or 
in his church, the Christian is commanded to “ abide,” 
if he would overcome the world ; that is, if he would 
overcome the fine gentleman. He must stand by or 





# 

Explanatory Notes . 41 

upon the cross until the rising of the true Light, which 
is compared to that of the sun. This is the light of 
(whom) the Baptist is a witness, and as the Baptist is 
the forerunner of the light, so does the visible church 
precede the coming of the same light to the phenom- 
enal or natural man. 

Let us explain this a little further ; and, for this 
purpose, we will* refer to Dante ; who, for aught any 
one seems likely to know, might have been contempo- 
rary with the author of the story under examination. 

In the Yita Nuova of the great Italian poet, the 
visible church (of his day) is figured by a woman ; 
and she is represented as midway, directly in line, 
between the poet and his Beatrice ; and by Beatrice 
he means his Blessing. Now, life sees his blessing be- 
! yond, or through, that is, by means of the church. 
The woman who represents the church he calls Joan ; 
telling us, himself, of the likeness of this name, an 
arbitrary name chosen by himself, to that of the Bap- 
tist, as the forerunner of Christ ; so openly does the 
poet hint to us the meaning of his mystical writing. 
He tells us, also, that this woman, this Joan, was by 



42 Ex pi anatory Notes . 

some called Primarina, or Spring ; and he gives as the 
reason, that the Spring precedes the Summer, connect- 
ing this statement with the vision of his Beatrice ; thus 
intimating that the two, the Spring and the Summer, 
are emblematic of the two women, Joan and Beatrice; 
who represent themselves, the visible and the invisible 
church, the latter being the true light of the former ; 
the same two being the law and the true Gospel there- 
of. Whatever other meanings may be discovered in 
Dante, this single point seems to stand out with great 
clearness. Dante, we may suppose, contemplated the 
church until its spirit rose before him, and this spirit 
he personifies in Beatrice. 

In like manner, according to the method of Dante’s 
teaching, the boy was directed to stand upon the cross; 
that is, he was required to “ abide ” by the church, 
represented by the cross in the centre of the circle 
(the Spirit in the “ midst”), while exposed to the dangers 
and temptations of the world, until he should see the 
rising of the sun in the morning ; or, as Dante might 
say, until the vision of Beatrice should rise before him. 
This is the Light so much spoken of in Scripture, of 


Explanatory Notes . 43 


which the Scripture itself is a witness, represented by 
the Baptist, who baptizes in water, the symbol of the 
Letter — the baptism by fire being the Spirit of the letter. 
Isaiah points to the conditions under which the Light 
may be received, and exclaims — Then shall thy Light 
break forth as the morning (the reader will notice the 
simile), and thine health shall spring forth speedily ; 
and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; and the 
glory (that is, the Light) of the Lord shall be thy re- 
ward ; ch. 58, 8. The expression, “ thy righteousness 
shall go before thee,” states a truth of inexpressible 
importance, whether designed or not. The rewards 
of the world follow the life, or the visible actions of 
man in the world, but in the life of the Spirit, they 
go before the disciple, who thus sees his reward already 
in the future, — a doctrine which we may consider pre- 
sented in a figure in many places of Scripture ; in the 
pillar of fire by night and cloud by day, guiding the 
children of Israel in their exodus from Egypt ; as also 
by the star which led the wise men to the true Light. 
Besides the passage just recited from Isaiah, the 
prophet refers to the same Light in many other places : 


f — # 

44 Explanatory Notes . 

as, in ch. 60, 20 : Thy sun shall no more go down, 
(after the coming of the true Light) ; neither shall thy 
moon withdraw itself ; for the Lord shall be thine ever- 
lasting Light, and the days of thy mourning shall be 
ended. The sun and the moon here represent reason 
and faith, above which there is a true Light support- 
ing them both. 

The Scriptures are full of references to this Light, 
whose possessors were called the children of Light ; 
but the figurative character of the expression is apt to 
mislead a student who imagines that he can see this 
Light bodily, or anything like it: hence the Law 
against making or bowing down to any graven image, 
or anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the 
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 

I 

But let us return. 

The Christian must stand upon the cross, or “ abide ” 
in Christ, until he comes out of darkness into his mar- 
vellous Light, 1. Pet. 2, 9. 

This Light preceded that of the sun and the moon, 
whether these be taken figuratively or not; for we 
read that God said, on the first day, Let there be Light, 

# — 4 > 


# 

Explanatory Notes. 45 

and there was Light, when, as yet, “ the sun was not, 
neither the moon.” The Law is said to be Light, Prov. 

6, 22, because it teaches the “ way ” to the Light; and 
those who stand upon the Law (or “ do ” the will of 
Him who gave it) shall see the Light ; that is, they 
shall see Him who published himself as the Light of 
the world, declaring that those who follow Him (that 
is, those who stand upon the cross) shall have the 
Light of Life,' whose rising in the soul is compared, 
in this story of the Red Book, to the rising of the sun 
in the morning, the very simile of the prophet Isaiah, 
as we have just shown. 

The reader need not imagine that, in treating this 
subject, there is a contradiction in speaking of Christ 
as both the way to the Light, and as the Light himself : 
as the “ way,” he is the Law (the “ flesh,” Phil. 3, 3-6), 
and he is the visible church (the “ body ” of Christ, 
Ephes. 2, 22, 23, Col. 1, 24) ; but as the Light, he is the 
eternal, the unspeakable Word. AVe see that the author 
of the Epistle to the Hebrews falls into a seeming con- 
tradiction, in that, whilst he speaks of Melcliisedek as 
without beginning of days or end of life, and therefore 


46 Explanatory Notes . 

eternal, he tells us that he was made like unto the Son 
of God ; and even John, whilst in one place he tells 
us that the Word was with God and was (?) God, tells 
us also that the Word was made flesh. But let us re- 
turn once more to our story. 

His Master told the boy that the gentleman would 
wish him to come out of the circle, to put his name in 
the Book ; that is, the world is continually enticing us 
to pass beyond the limits prescribed by the Divine Law ; 
but the boy was directed on no account to leave the 
circle: “But,” continues the Master, “ask the Book till 
you would write your name 

15. Yourself! ” Man is not saved by proxy : he is 
commanded by St. Paul to work out his own salvation 
with fear and trembling. The virtues of another are 
encouragements to a’l good men ; but it is the duty of 
every man for “himself” to open the door when Christ 
knocks, or He will not enter : without this, Christ will 
“ sup ” with no man. 

Whatever speculations may be made about the will, 
its freedom from or dependence upon a higher power — 
a certain necessity for freedom in the Life-Spirit may 


f 

Explanatory Notes. 47 

not be a contradiction, except to that discursive under- 
standing which cannot comprehend how that which 
is eternal can with propriety be said to be “ made.” 
In any view of the mere speculative reason, those who 
look to the Law cannot fail to see that an awful alterna- 
tive is offered to us in the language: “I call heaven 
and earth to record this day against you, that I have 
set before you life and death, blessing and cursing : 
therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may 
live, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that 
thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave 
unto him: for he is thy Life; ” Deut. 30, 19, 20. To 
obey the voice of the Lord, and to cleave unto Him, 
has the same meaning as the expression, to stand upon 
the cross. 

16. The boy was commanded to keep the Book when 
once in his possession. When the true man once grasps 
the Spirit represented by the Book, which was Bed, the 
color of blood, the symbol of life, he must on no ac- 1 
count relax his hold: he must be sure “to keep it,” 
and not fall away from grace once attained ; for, if he 
thus falls, “his after state shall be worse than the first : ” 

♦ : 


j 48 Explanatory Notes . 

— — 

but lie lias the promise, that so long as he keeps within 
the circle of Light whose centre is Christ (his Church 
or his Spirit), the fine gentleman 

17. Cannot touch a hair of his head. The hoy must 
not allow himself to be drawn beyond the limits of the 
circle, no, not by the persuasions of the fine gentleman 
in the exercise of “ all his arts ” and blandishments. 

18. The boy was at the place of meeting — &c. This 
place is indefinitely called a certain place ; not any 
specified place : because the fine gentleman may be 
met in all places, and so, also, at all times. We are 
always in the world while in the body, and are more 
or less exposed to its influences, — for which reason we 
are told to “ watch ” and to “ pray ” continually, lest 
we fall into temptation. 

19. The boy would not move one foot out of the 
place where he stood. This presents a fine picture of 
that unshaken faith which “ overcometh the world ; ” 

* that is, which overcometh the fine gentleman. 

20. The Booh falls from the hand of the gentleman, 
the instant it passes within the circle. The hand is 
the symbol of power ; and we are here taught that 


Explanatory Notes . 49 

the power of the evil one is absolutely paralyzed with- 
in the circle where Christ is the acknowledged Prince. 
The “name ” of Christ, which is said in so many places 
to work as a charm, as also the “ name ” of God, sig- 
nifies the Divine Law, obedience to which, represented 
by the figure of standing upon the cross (Christ being 
the fulfilment of the Law), arms the true disciple 
against all the powers of evil, and even gives him 
control over them. The devils (the bad passions? — 
Luke 10, 17) were subject to the disciples through the 
“name” of the Holy One; that is, through his power, 
which comes as a Light to those who -perse veringly 
stand upon the cross, or “abide” in Christ; or, again, 
in the Law, which served as a schoolmaster to St. 
Paul to bring him to the Light; at which time, the 
Law in the Letter, called the “flesh” of Christ, 
“was done away with,” or was “ left behind.” Thus 
also, the boy was free to leave the circle after he 
saw the true Light, represented by the rising of the 
sun. 

When the fine gentleman is convinced that the Or- 
phan Boy, who figures, among other things, the Spirit 


4 


50 Exp l an at or y No tes. 

of Truth, is sustained by a power above him, over 
which he has no control, he becomes furious, 

21. Blowing fire and brimstone out of his mouth and 
nostrils. Thus, in like manner, as we read in the Reve- 
lation : And I saw the horses in the vision, and them 
that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and 
jacinth, and brimstone : and the heads of the horses 
were as the heads of lions ; and out of their mouths 
issued smoke and brimstone. 

The fine gentleman, thus disappointed in his designs 
upon the Orphan Boy, assumes all sorts of forms, 
among others that of a horse, and finally that of 

22. A fearful beast : and although we are not told, 
as to his heads, how many he had, we need not doubt 
that he took the precise form of the beast we read of 
in the Revelation. If any one asks here, why so much 
is said in Scripture of four beasts, especially in the 
Revelation, he may be reminded that all antiquity saw 
or recognized four elements, and four only, in visible 
nature (the world). They saw also seven, and but 
seven planets, in the “ midst ” of which there was one 
said to be like the Son of God ; for the Son of God 


# 

Explanatory Notes . 51 

is in the “midst” of his works; as he also “stands 
among” us, even “when we know him not.” 

At the breaking of day (or the dawning of the divine 
reason in the soul, affirming the Divine Law), the beast 
disappears out of the sight of the boy ; who has been 
until then the very figure of the true “heir;” as a 
“ child,” differing in nothing from a “ servant ; ” Gal. 4, 1. 

The beast disappearing, the Orphan Boy neverthe- 
less remains steadily upon the cross until he sees 

23. Ihe sun in the morning : when he enters into 
that “ liberty ” declared by St. Paul for all those who 
are made “ free in Christ,” the true Light, or Light 
of Truth. Until thus made “free indeed,” — John 8, 36, 
— the Orphan Boy, being yet a “ child,” was bound 
to stand upon the cross ; which means that he was in 
“bondage” to the forms and emblematic ceremonies 
of the visible church, the mystical bride of the Lord : 
but this bondage was for the good of the boy, as a 
means of bringing him into that “ marvellous Light ” 
which made him free indeed — free from the obligation 
of an unintelligent obedience to the external Law, or 
to the visible church, because he has received the 



52 Explanatory Notes . 

spirit of both, by which he has entered upon his true 
inheritance, the Holy Land, or has received a foretaste 
of it; and this is the “manifestation of Christ” in the 
soul, according to the promise — “ I will manifest my- 
self to him, who hath my commandments and keepeth 
them” — that is, to him who “ abides ” in Christ, or 
stands upon the cross waiting this manifestation. 

But what use does the boy make of his freedom ? 
He no sooner sees the sun arise — no sooner receives 
the true Light, the Gospel, or Truth of the Law — than 

24. He passes to his home , as fast as he could : and 
where is the proper home of a Christian? We are told 
that here we have no abiding place, and that our proper 
home is in heaven ; but this is to be in Christ, who 
is received by those who stand upon the cross, waiting 
His coming. 

Almost all allusions to this mystery in the Scripture 
are figurative and symbolical. The loved disciple in 
the Gospel of John, is represented as receiving the 
Mother of Jesus as his own Mother, and is said to have 
taken her to his own home , (ch. 19, 25-27) : but this 
means that he received her to his own heart ; and this 


Explanatory Notes. 53 

signifies, again, that the loved disciple found his own 
house in the heart of his true mother, called by St. 
Paul the Jerusalem (or Church) above, the mother of 
us all ; Gal. 4, 26. The true home of a Christian is 
often called a Rest, and is figured by the Sabbath. It 
is an inward experience infinitely removed from all 
possibility of adequate external representation ; and 
hence it is, that it has been written about mystically 
in all ages. It is called by St. Paul a great mystery, 
in the Epistle to the Ephesians (5, 32), where he speaks 
of it under the figure of a marriage, the most holy and 
sacred of all human ties, yet falling immeasurably be- 
low that sense of unity with the divine nature which 
is the consummation of all divine teaching. 

The boy having now received the Red Book, the 
emblem, as we have said, of the true blood, 

25. Gave the Booh to his Master. This is a figure 
by which the final duty of all men is taught; for in 
the end, all men are called upon to surrender to God, 
the true Master, that “ gift of Life ” by which man 
has been placed in a temporal scene of trial, where he 
has the power of writing his name in the Book of Life, 


54 Explanatory Notes . 

or of surrendering his claims to the true life by falling 
down in worship before the powers of the world, often 
called the powers of darkness (the beast of the Keve- 
lation) — figured in this most remarkable story, with 
exquisite taste, as a fine gentleman ; because, the se- 
ductions of the world are never effective except when 
they present themselves in some attractive form. 

Let not the simplicity of this tale suggest a doubt 
as to its deep import. It is one among thousands of 
figurative and symbolical teachings, one design of which 
is to leave the soul free while yet they teach ; so that 
he who receives the teaching, however grateful he 
may be to the teacher, may nevertheless, in the lan- 
guage of St. Paul, “give all the glory to God ; ” for 
it borders on inspiration, and is said to rest on a prin- 
ciple incommunicable, directly from man to man, all 
writers agreeing that it is the gift of God, and not to 
be purchased, except by the sweat of the brow : Thy 
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought 
that the gift of God might be purchased with money ; 
Acts 8, 20. But this, rightly understood, ought to be 
an encouragement to the lover of Truth, instead of 

t> $> 


Explanatory Notes . 55 


being felt as a weight upon the heart, as it often is, 
for we may be sure that what is called the gift of God 
must be beyond the power of man to destroy. Hence 
the injunction : Fear not them which kill the body, 
but are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear 
Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in 
Hell. 

Our book of Life (we call it ours) belongs to another, 
to whom we must deliver it when summoned by Him : 
and then, happy are they who find the words written 
in themselves: Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of 
the world. 

It is proper now to notice the fact already stated, 
that this story of the Orphan Boy is said to have been 
told by one John ; and certainly not without reference 
to that John who tells the story of Jesus so sublimely, 
and who saw the vision in the Isle of Patmos, himself 
being in that isle. 

There seems nothing wanting to show the connec- 
tion of this story with Christianity, and that it is a 
living picture of the everlasting doctrines of the Gospel ; 


$ — # 

56 Explanatory Notes . 

visible now, as ever, to those who are privileged to 
feel themselves the friends of God ; "Wisdom, 14. 

It would be easy to enlarge or extend this interpre- 
tation by numerous additional references to Scripture, 
illustrating more fully many points ; but, for those who 
know the “way” to the Truth, this would be super- 
fluous; while for those who do not, it might be with- 
out profit. This Orphan Boy (in many other stories he 
is figured as a foundling ) — represents one (who) is 
compared to the wind, which, as we read, bloweth as 
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst 
not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth : for so, 
is every one that is born of the Spirit. The sons of 
God, we may suppose, are content to know that they 
are heirs of salvation, and ask no questions as to 
whence they came or whither they go. In them hope 
has, most surely, given place to trust ; and fear, that 
perpetual shadow of hope, being banished, they go on 
their way rejoicing in the Lord, who is their portion. 

To them the language must be clear : I am the Light 
of the world : whoso believeth in me shall not walk in 
darkness, but shall have the Light of Life. To them 

# 4 



# 

Explanatory Notes . 57 

tli© sun has risen, that sun which, we are told, shall 
never set: and this is to be a Christian, and such a 
Christian as was before Abraham. 

There is not a more certain truth in the universe 
than that which is shadowed out in this unpretending 
story from the middle ages. The story itself is like 
the Spirit it celebrates : it is an orphan springing up 
“ like a root out of the dry ground ” of the past. No 
one knows its parentage in a worldly sense ; and yet, 
most certainly, there are those who perfectly know the 
family to which the story belongs, and, in some sort, 
its very father and mother; for God never leaves him- 
self without witness in the world. 









f 




THE SIX SW AH S. 









THE SIX SWANS. 


A me was one day hunting in a 
large forest/ and he chased a stag "so 
eagerly that none of his huntsmen could 
follow him. When it was evenin gft? 
stopped his horse and looke d aroun d hiin, 
and saw that he had lost his way. He 
sought everywhere for some path out of 
the 'wood, but all in vain. At length 
he saw an old womanf with a shaking 
head, coming toward him ; but she was a 
witch, you must know. The king accost- 
ed her, and said, “ My good woman, can 
you show me the way out of the wood? ” 


3 ^ 




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62 The Six Swans. 

“ Oli yes, sir king,” answered she, u I can 
easily show you the way, but only upon 
one condition ; and if you do not agree 
to it, you’ll never again get out of the 
wood, and must die here with hunger.” 

“ What is the condition ? ” asked the 
king. “ I have a daug hter,” said the old 
woman, “ who is so beautiful, that her 
like is not to be found in the world, and 
who is well worthy to be your wife ; if 
you will marry her and make her your 
queen, I will show you the way out of 
the wood.” 

The king, in the trouble of his heart, 
consented, and the old woman led him 
to her cottage, where her daughter was 
sitting by the fireside. She received the 


The Six Swans . 63 

king as if she had expected him, and he 
saw that she was very beautiful ; never- 
theless she did not please him, and he 
could not look at her without a secret 
dislike. When the king had lifted the 
maiden upon his horse, he placed her 
behind him, the old woman showed him 
the way, and at length the king reached 
his pala ce/ where the marriage was cele- 
brated. 

The king had been married once be- 
fore, and his first wife had brought him 

7 3 — r ~~ . . ^ 

seven children, six boys and a little girl, 
whom he loved more than the whole 
world besides. Now he feared lest their 
step mother should not treat 'them well, 
and that she might do them some harm ; 


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64 


The Six Swans . 


so he took them secretly to a lonely 
castle, which stood in the midst • of a 
wood. It lay so hidden, and the path to 
it was so hard to find, that the king him- 
self would not have made it out, had not 
a wise worn an^given him a clew of ffiiread 
of wonderful power : when he threw it 
on the ground, it unwound of itself, ran 
before and showed him the way. But 
the king went so often to ^nsiffhis dear 
chi ldre n, that the queen began to won- 
der at the cause of his absence ; she was 
full of prying curiosity, and could not 
be easy until she knew what he did all^ 
alone in the wood. Then she gave his 
servants gold and silver, and they re- 
vealed to her the secret, and told her of 


The Six Swans. 


65 


the clew of thread which could show the 
way. 

The queen had now no rest until she 


had found out where the king kept the 


clew. Then she made some little shirts 
of white silk ; and, as she had learnt the 


A* 

. S+t * * e / f 

fairy art from her mother, she sewed/ 


into them a magical charm. 


And one day, when the king was 
gone out a-hunting,' she took the little 


shirts, and went into the wood, and the 
clew of thread showed her the way. The 
little boys, who from afar off saw some 
one coming, thought it must be their 
dear father, and ran joyfully to meet 
him. Then the queen t hrew ^one of the 
little shirts over each of them; and as 





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A 


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66 The Six Swans . 

soon as it touched their bodies, they 
were changed into swans, and flew away 
over the wood. The queen returned 
home in high glee, and thought she was 
now rid of her stepchildren. But the 
little girl had not run out with her 
brothers, and the queen knew nothing 
of her being in the wood. 

The next day the king came to 
the castle, to visit his children ; but 
he found the little maiden all alone. 
u Where are thy brothers ? ” asked the 
king. “ Alas ! dear father,” she answer- 
ed, “ they are gone away, and have left 
me all alone.” Then she told him that 
she had seen from the window how her 
brothers had been changed into swans, 


The Six Swans. 


67 


j and had flown away over the wood ; and 
she showed him the feathers they had 
let fall in the courtyard, and which she 
had picked up. The king was very sad, 
but he could not think that the queen 
| had done such a wicked deed ; and, fear- 
ing that the little maiden would also be 
stolen away, he wished to take her with 
him. But she had a great dread of her 
stepmother, and begged the king to let 
her stay one night longer in the castle. 

Then the poor little maiden thought 
to herself, “ I can no longer stay here ; 
I will go and seek my brothers.” And 
when night came on, she ran away, 
and went straight into the wood. She 
rambled the whole night through the 

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68 


The Six Swans. 


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wood, and the next day also, until she 
was ready to drop from fatigue and 
could go no further. Then she came to 
a lonely cottage ; so she went up the 
stairs, and found a room with six little 
beds in it. She did not, however, dare 
to lie down in any of them, but crept 
under one and laid herself upon the 
hard floor, to rest for the night. 

2. Not long afterward, as the sun was 


going down, she heard a rustling noise, 
and saw six swans come flying in at the 
window. They seated themselves on 
the ground, blew upon one another, and 
blew all the feathers off them, and stript 
off their swan’s skin like a shirt. Then the 
little maiden looked earnestly at them, 




* 


— . — — , — <s> 

The Six Swans . 69 


and knew them to be her brothers ; 
whereat her heart leaped with joy, and 
she crept forth from under the bed. 
The brothers were no less rejoiced when 
they beheld her, but their joy did not 
last long. “ Thou canst not stay here,” 
said they ; “ this is a house of robbers, 
and when they come home and find thee 
here, they will kill thee.” “But cannot 
you protect me ? ” asked the little sister. 
“ No,” answered they ; “ we can only 
put off our swan’s skin for a quarter of 
an hour every evening, and during this 
time we have our natural form ; but then 
we are changed again into swans.” The 
little sister wept, and said, “ But cannot 
you get free ? ” “ Alas ! no,” answered 


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70 


The Six Sw ans. 


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they ; “ the conditions are too hard ; for 
six whole years thou must neither speak 
^ nor laugh, and in that time must sew for 
us six little shirts of star-flowers. 2 If a 
single word falls from thy tongue, °all the 
labor is lost.” And when they had so 
said, the quarter of an hour was past, 
and they were changed into swans again 
and flew away out of the window. 

But the little maiden thought in her 
heart that she would set her brothers 
free, even if it should cost her her life. 
So the next morning she went out, 
plucked a basketful of star-flowers, and 
began to sew. She could not talk to 
any one, and she had no mind to laugh ; 
so she sat quietly at her needle, and 


The Six Swans . 


n 


never once took her eyes from her work. 
She had been busied thus for a long 
time, when it happened that the king y of 
that country was one day hunting in the 
wood, and his huntsmen came to a tree 
in which the little maiden w~as sitting. 
Then they called to her, and said, “ Who 
art thou?” But she gave no answer. 
“ Come down to us,” said they ; “ we 
will do thee no harm.” She only shook 
her head. But as they went on teasing 
her with questions she threw them down 
her golden necklace, thinking that would 
satisfy them. Yet still they did not 
leave off ; so she threw down her girdle, 
and, when this also was of no use, she 
flung them her garters, and one thing 


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Th e Six Swans . 


after another, all that she could spare, 
until nothing was left but her little shift . 

But the huntsmen were not to be 
put off thus ; they climbed up the tree, 
lifted the maiden down, and led her to 
the king. The king asked, “Who art 
thou ? what wast thou doing up in the 
tree ? ” Still she did not answer . Then 
he asked her in all the languages he 
knew, but she remained dumb as a fish. 
But when the king saw how beautiful 
she was, his heart was moved, and he 
fell deeply in love with her. He wrap- 
ped his cloak round her, set her upon 
his horse, and brought her to his palace. 

Then he ordered her to be clothed 
in a rich robe, and she shone in her 


TJi e Six Swans. 


73 


beauty like tlie bright day ; but not a 
word could be got from her. The king 
seated her by his side at table, and her 
modest behavior pleased him so much 
that he said, “ This is the maiden whom 
I shall marry, and none other in the 
world ; ” and a few days afterward the 
weddin g took place. 

But the king had a wicked mother, 
who was very angry at this marriage, 
and spoke ill of the young queen. “ Who 
knows what slut this is, who cannot 
speak a word ? ” said she : u truly a pretty 
wife for a king ! ” 

At the end of a year, when the 
queen brought her first child into the 
world, the old woman took it away from 


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74 The Six Swans. 

her, and besmeared the floor with blood 
while she lay asleep. Then she went to 
the king, and made a complaint that the 
queen was an ogress. But the king 
could not believe it, and would not 
suffer any harm to be done to her. 

< , Meanwhile the young queen sat steadily 
at her work, sewing away at the shirts, 
and had not a thought for anything else. 

The next time, when the queen had 
a fine little boy, the false old mother-in- 
law practised the same trick ; but still 
the king could not bring himself to be- 
lieve her story, and said, “She is too 
good and gentle to be capable of such a 
thing ; if she were not dumb, and could 
speak for herself, her innocence would 


The Six Sw ans . 


75 


come to light.” But a third time the 
queen had a little child, and the old 


woman stole it away, and accused the 


queen as before. She however said not 
a word in her defence ; so the king was 
obliged to give her up to be judged in 
the court, and she was condemned to 
die. 

When the day came on which the 
sentence was to be executed, it happened 
to be the last day of the six years during 
which she was neither to speak nor laugh. 
She had freed her dear brothers from 
the power of the spell ; and the six little 
shirts were all ready sewn, except that 
the last one still wanted a sleeve for the 
left arm. Now when she was led out 


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76 The Six Swans. 

to be put to death, she hung the little 
shirts upon her arm ; and just as she 
was going to be killed, she looked up, 
and there came six swans tfying through 
the air. Then she saw that her deliver- 
ance was near at hand, and her heart 
beat with joy. The swans flew to her, 
and let themselves gently down, so that 
she could throw the little shirts over 
them ; and no sooner were they touched 
by them, than the swans’ skins fell off, 
and her brothers stood before her in 
their natural form, fresh and handsome ; 
only the youngest wanted his left arm 
and had instead a swan’s wing on his 
shoulder. Then they embraced and 
kissed one another, and the queen went 


The Six Swans . 


11 


to the king, who was lost in amazement, 
and opened her lips and said, u Dearest 
husband, now I may speak, and declare 
to thee that I am innocent and falsely 
accused.” So she told him all the arts 
of the old queen-mother, who had taken 
away her three children and hidden 
them. Then they were brought back 
again, to the great joy of the king, and 
the wicked old queen-mother was put to 
death. — But the king and the queen, 
with her six brothers, lived many years 
in peace and happiness. ^ 


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